Saxon watched as she started unpacking the food before lifting his jacket and following Declan outside. He closed the door behind him and put on his jacket. In the distance, the faint glow of the setting sun illuminated the mountains. The wind had died down, but the chill in the air was still enough to make a penguin consider moving somewhere warmer.
“Does she know she’s your mate yet?” Declan inquired.
Saxon rested his hand against the blue motel wall as he studied the parking lot. Aside from their rental vehicles and their SUV, there were four other cars. Two were parked outside the office, and he suspected one belonged to the clerk and the other the cleaning woman he’d seen a couple of times. The other two were probably travelers’ vehicles.
“No.” He knew Declan sensed things about others, but he still had to know, “How do you know she’s my mate?”
“I’ve seen you with many women over the years, Saxon, but I’ve never seen you defensive or protective of one. Besides, if she wasn’t your mate, the second you learned she was the reason Killean and Simone were hunted so ruthlessly, you would have tossed her to the wolves.”
“I’m not that callous. I’d never punish someone for something that wasn’t their fault.”
“No, but her ability is dangerous, and you would have restrained her.”
“It’s not her fault the Savages decided to use her ability in such a way,” Saxon growled.
Declan held his hands up in a calming gesture. “I’m not saying it is, and I’m not saying anything bad, I’m just stating how I know she’s your mate.”
Saxon’s gaze slid away from him as a black car traveled down the street and turned onto the road leading toward the bar. “Killean’s going to want her dead. Lucien might too, and possibly Ronan.”
“And they’ll know that if they do, they’ll also be condemning you to death. Besides, she is human, and we don’t kill humans.”
Saxon turned his attention back to Declan. “Killean has before, and if he thinks she’s a threat to Simone, he will again.”
“He’s not going to destroy you by killing her. He won’t be happy about this, but he’ll learn to live with it.”
“What do you think about it?”
“I’m happy you found your mate, and I think the rest of it will work itself out eventually.”
“Yeah,” Saxon muttered, but he wasn’t so sure.
“If it makes you feel any better, I sense nothing off in her. She’s not cruel or manipulative.”
“I know she’s not.”
“Good.”
Removing Declan’s phone from his pocket, Saxon typed in Ronan’s new number and waited for his king to pick up while he watched another black car drive down the road. He glanced at Declan as he leaned against the wall and pulled out one of the phone’s Saxon gave him.
“Hello,” Ronan said after the third ring.
“Ronan.”
“Saxon, are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Saxon filled him in on the details of the cabin while Declan pulled out another phone and searched through it. He told him about discovering Elyse, the Savages, and her imprisonment.
“I can’t do anything with these,” Declan muttered.
He walked over and tossed them into a trash can outside one of the rooms. As Declan returned to him, another black car drove by. The car turned down the same road as the other two. There were probably fifty million black cars out there, but something didn’t feel right.
Saxon glanced at Declan, who shoved his hands in his pockets as the car drove out of view.
“Saxon?” Ronan asked. “Are you there?”
“Yeah,” Saxon muttered.
For the first time, he noticed the distant thump of music from the bar as it resonated through the air. He stepped closer to his room and opened the door. The bathroom door was closed, and the shower was running.
He closed the door again and glanced at Declan who had walked to the edge of the wooden walkway running the length of the motel. Declan rested his hand on one of the beams propping up the overhang that protected the walkway from the elements as he studied the road.
The hum of tires drew Saxon’s gaze to the street as a white car flew by followed by a blue one. The white one headed toward the bar, but the blue continued down the road.
“Saxon?” Ronan demanded.
Saxon had forgotten where he’d left off with Ronan. “We know where there’s a nest of Savages,” he said as two more black cars went toward the bar, or they could be heading toward the cabin where he found Elyse.
Declan walked a few doors down and knocked on the door. “Get out here,” he said and strode back to Saxon.
“How?” Ronan asked.
“Elyse showed us where they are,” Saxon said as the door opened, and a scowling Lucien stepped onto the walkway.
“Get Asher and Logan,” Declan said when Lucien started toward them.
“What’s going on?” Lucien demanded.
“I don’t know,” Declan said. “Maybe nothing. Just get the others.”
Lucien walked a few more doors down before stopping to knock on one.
“How did she know where they were?” Ronan asked.
“She’s my mate,” Saxon said, making that clear before he revealed the rest.
Ronan’s breath hissed out.
“She’s also the mole, or the one they were using to locate other vampires. She’s got a very unusual ability, and the Savages are going to do everything they can to get her back.”
And he suspected they were already arriving to do so; they had to get out of here.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Asher and Logan stepped onto the walkway.
“We have to go,” Saxon said to Declan.
Declan jerked his thumb at the SUV. “Leave the rental cars; it’s time to say goodbye to New York.”
“Is she a threat to us?” Ronan demanded.
“Not anymore,” Saxon said. “I’ll tell you more when we see you.”
“Where is this nest of Savages?”
“In Maine. I’m not sure of the exact location. The map is in the room.”
“Let me know where it is; we’re going to meet you there.”
Saxon had known Ronan would join them, but he’d hoped to keep Killean away from Elyse for a little while. “I’ll get the map.” Opening the door to his room, he discovered the shower was off. “Elyse?”
The door opened, and she poked her head out. Her long hair hung in wet tendrils around her shoulders and her pretty, flushed face. She looked so innocent and beautiful it made his heart ache. She’d been through so much in her short life, and there was still so much more to come. He wanted to take her somewhere safe, but he couldn’t; until they were at the compound, there was nowhere safe for her.
“We’re leaving,” he told her. “Get dressed and meet me outside.”
She paled. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. It’s time to get out of here. Hurry.”
“I will.”
She shut the door, and Saxon walked over to retrieve the map before returning outside. Lucien was climbing out of the now running SUV as Asher and Logan tossed their things into the cargo hold. Saxon glanced up and down the walkway before resting the map on the hood of the SUV.
“I’m not sure of the exact location,” he said to Ronan.
“Location for what?” Lucien asked.
“A nest of Savages,” Saxon answered.
“How do you know how to locate a bunch of Savages?”
“Later,” Saxon told Lucien as he studied the map. “We’ll meet you in Clayton Lake. That’s the closest town to where we’re going.” Although, it was still miles away from the X.
“Oh shit,” Asher said as Ronan said, “I’ll meet you there.”
Saxon didn’t have to ask what oh shit was; he smelled the potent stench of rot on the air. Turning, he spotted the Savage as it stepped onto the walkway at the end of the motel. Its eyes
reddened when it saw them, and its smile revealed its fangs. Behind it, more Savages emerged and started toward them.
“Elyse.”
Saxon sprinted for their room, and the phone tumbled from his fingers as he grabbed the knob and shoved it open. He’d expected to find her getting dressed, but she wasn’t in the room. The door to the bathroom remained closed, but he heard no movement inside.
He leapt over the bed. “Elyse!” he shouted as he threw the bathroom door open and stumbled into the room.
His gaze fell on the shattered glass lying on the ground beneath the broken window across from the shower. Blood splattered the floor, and he didn’t have to smell the scent of cherry blossoms to know it was hers.
His fangs burst free; whoever took her would regret ever laying a hand on her. He’d make sure of it.
Gripping the edge of the window, he ignored the glass biting into his palms as he pulled himself through it. As he jumped out the window, he flipped over to land on his feet. He rested his hands in the snow while he studied the footprints and blood splattering the snow.
It looked as if the Savage had pushed her through the window first and she’d fallen outside. She’d scrambled to get to her feet and tried to run along the back of the motel, but the Savage caught her before she made it five feet. Elyse’s footprints ended there, and Saxon assumed the Savage was carrying her.
Rising, he tracked the Savage’s footprints through the snow as he ran into the woods and toward the bar. Power thrummed through his veins as his blood rushed in his ears. All he could think about was getting her back and destroying whoever had dared to take her from him.
Through the trees, he spotted the Savage fifty feet ahead of him. Draped over his shoulder, Elyse’s arms hung limply over her head while her hair dangled almost to the Savage’s knees. She’d gotten a chance to dress before they attacked her, but she wasn’t wearing a coat, and with her wet hair, she would freeze out here.
Saxon gritted his teeth against the violence he sought to unleash. Pouring on the speed, he closed the distance between them. Finally sensing him, the Savage turned a second before Saxon hammered his fist into the bastard’s face. Bone crunched as its face caved in. When it staggered back, Saxon pulled Elyse’s from the Savage’s arms before the bastard fell into the snow.
Saxon knelt to examine Elyse as she remained limp in his arms with her eyes closed and her head turned to the side; he detected the beat of her heart as her chest rose and fell with her breaths.
“Elyse.”
He wiped her hair away from her face to reveal the knot on the side of her temple. It was already starting to bruise. There were cuts on her hands and belly from when it shoved her through the window.
His lips skimmed back, and when his hand stilled on her face, he noticed the black and red color rising from his fingertips and spreading up his arm to vanish beneath the sleeve of his jacket. He’d seen this happen to an infuriated purebred when their mate was in jeopardy, but he’d never expected it to happen to him. Gone was his normally easygoing demeanor, and in its place was the demon who would tear the head off anyone who got too close to her.
It may not be who he usually was, but he welcomed it.
Elyse’s eyes moved behind her lids as her fingers twitched in the snow. From a few feet away, the Savage’s breath rattled in and out as it turned in the snow and started crawling away. Saxon lifted Elyse and stalked toward the creature. He’d love nothing more than to pulverize this thing boneless, but he couldn’t put Elyse down while he beat it to death.
Reaching a hand into his jacket, he pulled out a stake and knelt to drive it through the prick’s heart. He yanked it free and returned it to its hiding place as he listened to the clicking of the branches swaying over his head. He cradled Elyse against his chest as he tried to warm her.
The bar was only a hundred feet away, the music was louder here, but it didn’t hide the crunch of approaching footsteps on the snow. From the shadows of the trees, more Savages materialized.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Elyse stirred in his arms and whimpered when he knelt to set her on the ground. He’d prefer not to lay her in the cold snow, but he needed his hands free to fight these bastards. He removed his last two stakes from inside his jacket and gripped them as he stepped protectively over Elyse, using his body to protect her while she lay between his legs.
The Savages slipped in and out of the trees, disappearing behind the trunks before emerging again. They moved like wraiths, and he knew they were playing with him, but he refused to move away from Elyse. He glanced back toward the motel, but though there were a couple of lights on in the windows facing the back, he saw no sign of the others.
Power pulsed through him as each beat of his heart pounded in his temples and sent more color through him until his body swelled with it. He would destroy every one of them.
The first Savage ran at him. Coming in low, it tried to wrap its arms around his waist, but he shifted his foot back and grasped the creature. Lifting it over his head, Saxon flung it into a tree. Three more came at him, and this time he kept his feet planted over Elyse as he knocked one aside with a backhand. He couldn’t stop the other two as one pounced on his back, and the other hit his chest.
Elyse opened her eyes to find a foot only inches away from her nose and another leg dangling against the one beside her. She blinked the snow from her lashes; cold permeated her bones, and her teeth chattered as she tried to figure out where she was and what was happening.
The last thing she remembered was putting on the sneakers Declan brought her and loving how they felt on her feet. Then she’d run into the bathroom. Before she could sit on the toilet though something… something….
She recalled the glass raining down on her and slicing her skin as she stood beneath the window. Like something out of a horror movie, arms stretched down as a Savage hung half in and half out of the window.
When she opened her mouth to yell, it battered her against the wall and knocked the wind from her. She was still trying to catch her breath to scream when it dropped into the room to crouch beside her.
She’d beaten at the monster, but she was as effective as a mouse against a lion while it lifted her and shoved her out the window. She hit the ground and pushed herself up to start running.
That was the last thing she remembered until she woke up now. A grunt from above had her turning to look up at the man towering over her.
It took her a second to recognize Saxon as his fangs hung past his lower lip, blood streaked his face, and something black also coated him. The Savage sticking to him snapped viciously at him. The leg hanging off his side dropped onto her. Instinctively knowing any sound she made would distract Saxon, she bit back a grunt as she curled in on herself.
Then, hands gripped her calves and yanked her out from under Saxon. She kicked at the monster, but they didn’t let go. Sitting up, she swung at the creature; it laughed at her when she connected with its chin. That laugh infuriated her, but when she tried to hit it again, it knocked her hand aside, and its red eyes narrowed on her.
“Hit me again, and I’ll break your arm in two,” it snarled.
Elyse’s first instinct was to recoil from him, but she was so sick and tired of being a prisoner, feeling weak, and cowering before these bastards.
Saxon broke the neck of the next Savage before tearing its heart out. He released it and turned to search for Elyse. She sat before another Savage who was reaching for her; as it did, she punched the bastard in the face.
The blow caused the Savage to recoil, but it grasped her arms. The murderous look in the eyes of the vampire she’d punched made Saxon’s blood run cold. Saxon lunged for her as three more Savages pounced on him. Elyse kicked out at the vamp trying to drag her closer while Saxon tossed one of the Savages aside, and Lucien burst out of the trees with Logan on his heels.
Saxon shook off another Savage as the vamp grabbed her left arm and, before Saxon could stop him, drove it over its knee.
He plucked the bastard off the ground, and spinning, he smashed it into a tree. A cracking sound filled the air before a fissure raced up the tree trunk. Saxon grasped the other Savage by its hair and ripped it off him. He flung the bastard’s hair and a chunk of its skull aside before turning his full fury on the creature.
A haze of red clouded his vision as he pummeled the Savage over and over again. No matter how hard he hit it, or how much he pulverized its bones, he couldn’t rid himself of the image of this thing torturing Elyse.
An ominous groaning alerted him the tree was giving way before it tilted to the side. Saxon grasped the Savage’s head and twisted it around before tearing it off and throwing it under the tree.
With his shoulders heaving and blood dripping from his hands, he turned toward where Elyse sat huddled in the snow with her arm against her chest while she watched him. Lucien and Logan had finished with the other Savages and were coming closer, but they held a few feet back from her as they gazed warily at Saxon.
He stepped toward her, but when she paled and scooted back a little, he realized blood coated his skin and clothes. Kneeling in the snow, he tugged his shirt off before wiping his hands in the snow. He wasn’t astounded to discover his chest pulsing with the black and red color when he lifted handfuls of snow to wash the blood off his face.
He ignored the cold as he glanced at his jeans and saw the blood splattering them too, but he could keep her away from them until they returned to the hotel. Clutching more snow, he scrubbed it into his hair as Elyse shivered and then whimpered when the motion jarred her arm.
Lucien kept an eye on Saxon as he approached her. She cowered from him when he knelt and held his hand out to her. “Let me get you out of the snow,” he offered.
“Don’t touch me,” she said.
Lucien jerked his hand back. “I was only trying to help you.”
Bound by Passion: The Alliance Series, Book 4 Page 15
